MONTREAL—If there was any doubt the Canadiens are anything less than a religion here, understand that the Catholic Church of Montreal is having a spring fundraiser by getting fans to light a Habs’ themed virtual candle to support the team at a cost of $1 each.

The prayers of the faithful were answered, at least for the first round, thanks to a late penalty call against Tampa in a tie game, a power play goal from a slumping Max Pacioretty and the apparent blessing of Quebec chanteuse Ginette Reno.

That all added up to a 4-3 win Tuesday night over the Lightning, giving Montreal a sweep -— a “balayage” as they say in French that has put the Canadiens one-quarter of the way to the Stanley Cup.

“It’s nice we made it through, but we have to find a way to regroup and stay sharp,” said captain Brian Gionta.

“It’s more and more fun as we moved forward,” said Canadiens veteran Daniel Briere. “The games are getting bigger. This is what we play for. These are the games you play all year for.”

To find the last time the Habs swept a playoff series you have to go all the way back to what this storied franchise might recall as its good old days, back to 1993, back to the last year the Canadiens — or any Canadian team — won the Stanley Cup.

That little factoid — it was a second-round sweep of Buffalo — is only going to give Montreal’s faithful more reason to believe (and really help CBC’s last stand as the NHL’s prime playoff provider while also annoying some people in Toronto.)

“That’s a pretty cool tidbit,” said Briere, one of Montreal’s goal-scorers and old enough to remember that run in ’93. “They found ways to win (in 1993). When you have confidence, magical things can happen.”

The magic really seems to start with Reno, who may have turned into Montreal’s lucky charm. Her versions of O Canada are riveting. The crowd loves her.

And she shook Briere’s hand as she left the ice. He scored on his first shift.

“She gave me a little energy when she walked off the ice and shook my hand,” said Briere, who grew up in a household were her songs played. “It worked on the first shift. Maybe we should get a seat for her beside the bench.”

There was more magic late in the game — black magic, the Lightning may call it — when Cedric Pacquette was called for tripping Michael Bournival with 2:11 to go in the third. The Lightning had rallied to tie, a penalty hadn’t been called, despite many and varied infractions, since early in the second period (on Steven Stamkos after Montreal’s Alexei Emelin pulled an Olympic diving lesson.)

“It was the old ‘Refs-let-them-play-and-let-the-teams-decide-it,’ ” said Tampa coach Jon Cooper. “It’s really unfortunate it came down to a penalty call like that with two minutes left in the game.

“But you have to kill it off, and we didn’t kill it off.”

But the way Montreal is playing is another reason to believe, and perhaps Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis and coach Randy Carlyle should take notice.

The Canadiens roll four lines and all four lines scored on Tuesday. They’re all pretty good. They don’t need to fight. What they have is speed. (By comparison, the Leafs barely played their fourth-liners, reduced to 11 forwards for most of the end of the season).

And Montreal’s fourth line produced, with Briere opening the scoring at 2:24 of the first.

“We knew depth was going to be important and I think that’s a big part of why we’re having success going, is we have all four line contributing in one way or another,” said Habs’ third-liner Lars Eller, who scored at 15:21 of the first.

Montreal’s depth stood out over what Tampa was able to bring to the table.

Stamkos was a frustrated soul all night, showing it with penalties, punches and body language. And in a game of bounces and breaks, how about his breaking a stick when set up in the slot late in the second with the Lightning trailing 3-1, summing up what kind of series this has been for tough-break Tampa.

“His stick breaks,” said Cooper, in an incredulous voice. “At some point you think this (bad luck) is going to end. And it didn’t.”

It’s clear Stamkos is an immense talent, but without his favourite shooting partner — the long, gone Martin St. Louis — Tampa was too much of a one-man show. Stamkos needs better talent around him, guys who can take the surprise passes he manufactures.

Tampa was in tough to try to extend this series to a fifth game. A young team with much promise, the Lightning were done in by a few things beyond their control.

The injury to goalie Ben Bishop, in a game against the Leafs in the last week of the season, robbed them of their No. 1 goalie.

The departure of St. Louis at the trade deadline — he’d had a falling out with GM Steve Yzerman — robbed them of one of the top scorers in the league and a veteran presence who might have helped some of Tampa’s younger players deal with playoff pressure.

And then there’s the Ryan Malone matter. The veteran forward hasn’t played since being arrested for cocaine possession and driving under the influence on the eve of the playoffs.

After Montreal opened a 2-0 lead in the first, Tampa’s Ondrej Palat and Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher traded goals in the second. Gallagher’s goal forcec a goalie change in the Tampa night. It ended Anders Lindback’s night and started Kristers Gudlevskis’s.

Tampa tied the game early in the third, on goals from Victor Hedman, scoring from behind the net with a hard shot off the back of goalie Carey Prices back, and Tyler Johnson on a quick snapper.

“We had 12 players make their NHL playoff debut in this series,” said Cooper. “We went down swinging. There were 21,000 (Habs fans) who were nervous in that third period.”

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